Ron Tata hugs his sister Jessica Tata, 22, operator of the day care...

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Missy Tata, the mother of Jessica Tata, 22, operator of the day care facility called Jackie's Child Care, talks on the phone after a fire broke out at her daughter's day care center leaving four children dead and the remaining hospitalized Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, in Houston.

Photo: Michael Paulsen, Houston Chronicle

Missy Tata, the mother of Jessica Tata, 22, operator of the day...

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Jessica Tata, 23, could face as many as nine trials stemming from the fire.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Chronicle

Jessica Tata, 23, could face as many as nine trials stemming from...

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In this photo released Monday March 21, 2011 by the Fulton Country Sherriff's Office shows Jessica Tata. Tata was arrested in Nigeria and transferred to the U.S. to face manslaughter charges relating to a Feb. 24, 2011 fire at her Houston, Texas day care center that killed four children and injured three others. Tata had left the children alone while she shopped in a nearby store when the fire broke out according to authorities.

Photo: AP

In this photo released Monday March 21, 2011 by the Fulton Country...

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Kenya Stradford, mother of Kendyll Stradford, addresses the media upon the conclusion of the Jessica Tata hearing in 180th State District Court in the Harris County Criminal Courthouse where Tata was denied a lower bond on Friday, May 27, 2011, in Houston. The 22-year-old from Houston is accused in the deaths of four children after leaving seven kids unattended to go shopping, even as oil was heating in a pan on her stove leading to a fire at the home. Prosecutors filed a high bond request asking that Tata be held on $2 million bond and be forced to surrender all her passports. Tata went to Nigeria after the fire, before she had been charged.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

Kenya Stradford, mother of Kendyll Stradford, addresses the media...

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Kenya Stradford caresses the headstone of daughter Kendyll Anya Stradford at Forest Park Cemetery on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012, in Houston. Kenya Stradford will observe the anniversary of her daughter's death in the daycare fire, which happened last year on Feb. 24, 2011.

Photo: Mayra Beltran, Houston Chronicle

Kenya Stradford caresses the headstone of daughter Kendyll Anya...

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Keshia Brown, who lost her son Elias Castillo in a day care fire that killed three other children, sits on the steps of her old apartment in Houston, Texas while talking about the one year anniversary of the fire. A program from Elias' funeral sits in her lap.

Photo: Thomas B. Shea, For The Chronicle

Keshia Brown, who lost her son Elias Castillo in a day care fire...

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2/19/12: Keshia Brown who lost her son Elias Castillo in a day care fire sits on the steps of her old apartment at 801 Country Place Drive in Houston, Texas apt 195 while talking about the one year anniversary of the death of her son. Here a program from Elias funeral rests in her lap as she talks with a reporter.

Photo: Thomas B. Shea

2/19/12: Keshia Brown who lost her son Elias Castillo in a day...

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Keshia Brown, mother of fire victim Elias Xavier Castillo, smiles as she stands next to Rosi Castillo, the child's grandmother, after a judge on Friday refused to lower the bail for Jessica Tata..

Defense lawyers on Monday said investigators did not have permission to search through diaries, computer hard drives and other possessions of a woman accused of killing four children in a February 2011 fire.

Investigators have said Jessica Tata left seven children unsupervised at her west Houston home day care center to go to the store when oil left in a pot on a stove-top burner ignited the fatal fire.

In a hearing Monday in state District Judge Marc Brown's court, lawyers for Tata tried to prove the 24-year-old never consented to the search that turned up evidence expected to be used in the trial. Despite much focus on how the evidence was acquired, little was said about what it may show.

Prosecutors argued that Tata's landlord, who allowed police and investigators to search the home, had legal authority to give consent.

The hearing is scheduled to resume Wednesday, and Brown is expected to rule on the motion before the trial begins next week.